


Echoes

by jiokra



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 06:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10270088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiokra/pseuds/jiokra
Summary: Arkadia is gone, but even in death, Lexa is still protecting Clarke.





	

Her eyes burned from the smoke, Clarke told herself, as leaders had no right to cry in the face of tragedy. Her people could sit, catatonic in shock, as their only source of survival burst into flame, swallowed in a mushroom of smoke and fire, yet Clarke had to center herself, compartmentalize the complexity of the situation and root out the best case scenario lurking in this mess.

Blowing out a low breath, she rubbed a finger over her brow. A headache drilled holes into her skull ever since the negotiations with Roan in the cave, in addition to devising a way to cheat him out of those fifty seats on the ship. Not that it mattered any more, she knew, a twinge in her gut. Only her mother held the necessary means to save them. She had faith in her mother, yet the lack of control left her aching to scream.

Mouth twisted, Clarke closed her eyes and on reflex reached for Becca’s chip—then she remembered: It was gone.

Her vision blurred, an onslaught crashing into her.

Jaw clenched, she prayed, not to a blasted deity or even to the nuclear reactors in a last ditch effort to will them into switching off. _Lexa_ , she thought, her unspoken voice timid, shaken. _Lexa, I don’t know what—_

She swallowed, unable to finish.

Yet the smoke which had choked her now enveloped her in the heatwaves radiating out to her, the back of her neck humid with sweat. Roan negotiated for seats in exchange for Bellamy and Kane’s lives—an effect of the alliance. Her mother survived Polis and traveled in safety to Becca’s lab—an effect of the alliance.

She couldn’t finish because she could only see Lexa’s eyes shifting, an otherwise stoic countenance rendering her features devoid of emotion, that mask of leadership Clarke only knew too well. _Listen to your instincts, Clarke_ , the echo of Lexa’s voice rang through her. _You know what to do._

A frission raced down her spine. She pinched the bridge of her nose, riding out the shudder, then marched over to Bellamy holding Octavia in his arms, the two just gazing at each other. She hated to interrupt, but they needed to act fast.

“Bellamy,” said Clarke, no anxiety shrouding her words. “I need you to speak with our people, keep their spirits up.”

He peered at her, palm on Octavia’s shoulder. “Okay. What about you?”

He meant emotionally, but Clarke ignored this. “If Roan was sincere about sharing the ship, I can persuade him to take us in at Polis.”

Octavia laughed bitterly. “You want us to go _back_ to that place?”

Her brow twitched. “The alliance is strong. We took a blood oath.”

Octavia stared at her incredulously, and Clarke could not fault her. Yet buried in her chest, her heart flickered, a beat stronger. Butterfly effects of Lexa’s alliance surrounded them, riptides if only one spent a moment to look. In that cave Lexa’s legacy reignited like Arkadia now—a new flame. Clarke did not protect the flame for so long only to allow the fire to die out.


End file.
